Andrew Asch

Stories by Andrew

La Jolla International Fashion Film Festival has maintained its independence since it was founded in 2010. Last month, more than 700 people attended the event’s parties and film festival. The Best Picture Award was handed to Magic Kingdom.

New Zealand’s Rodd & Gunn clothiers are taking a wider gamble on California. The third Rodd & Gunn store in California opened Aug. 10 at the Westfield Century City mall, which neighbors affluent enclaves such as Beverly Hills and West Los Angeles.

Waterman’s

Reef brand founder Fernando Aguerre ushered in the irreverent sartorial style of the annual Waterman’s when he arrived at the inaugural event in 1993 wearing a sarong and a 1920s-era vintage dinner jacket.

Retail

Odain Watson relaunched his Odaingerous brand in 2016, and on Aug. 17 he is scheduled to open a shop, also called Odaingerous, at 719 S. Main St. in downtown Los Angeles. It will be the emerging brand’s first shop.

Selectiv

After spending years working in corporate environments, specifically digital departments for entertainment companies, Daniel Sakai and Calvin Lim came to a conclusion: Men’s office clothes had become a dull uniform, even in the era of business casual.

Made in Los Angeles, Wool & Thimble constructs high end T-shirts, wovens and sweats for men. Reggie Marshall, the brand’s founder and creative director, produced a launch party for its Summer ’17 collection on Aug. 8.

Technology

Oracle NetSuite, the San Mateo, Calif.–based, cloud-based enterprise resource planning and omnichannel commerce software owned by tech giant Oracle, has been hitting a number of apparel trade shows this year. The most recent was Agenda in Long Beach, Calif., in July.

Lucky Brand recently unveiled a collaboration line with country music performers Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. They’ve been really big deals in the world of country music for more than 20-years, and are currently in the midst of their long Soul2Soul tour.

After trying different sites in Long Beach, Calif., Ben Neuhaus and Miranda Malloy think they have found the right spot for Snake Oil Provisions. It’s in the historic Lafayette building in Long Beach’s East Village Arts District.

Trade Shows

Trade-show giant UBM is getting in on the consumer-facing show action this August when its Intermezzo Collections unveils its Vintage@Intermezzo. The New York show, set to bow during the Aug. 6–8 run of Intermezzo, will be UBM’s first market open to consumers.

Venice’s Abbot Kinney Boulevard has changed greatly over the past decade, causing many to complain that the street doesn’t have any more room for new brands or even the secret sauce that made it special in the first place. Venice area designer Angel Biotek hopes to prove those people wrong.

Technology

The slogan “grown locally/buy locally” resonates for fashion, said the cofounders of e-commerce platform ChicCartel, a new market that promises to connect savvy fashion consumers with independent designers from their city and region.

Waraire Boswell has been cutting up Los Angeles’ custom clothing scene for some time. The NBA-sized clothier made a splash at the ESPY awards show July 12 when D’Angelo Russel l of the Brooklyn Nets came to the ESPYS in Los Angeles wearing a suit Boswell made as part of a challenge.

Arts District

Since pen touched paper and paint touched canvas, artists have groused about censorship. Artistic online community/ e-boutique Witchsy aims to take the muzzle off of artists, all while selling T-shirts, hats, fashions, jewelry, pins, prints and you-name-it. They celebrated it with a first year party shindig.

Tori Praver

Tori Praver modeled for the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition in far-flung locales such as the Canary Islands off of Spain, her home island of Maui, and Turks and Caicos in the Caribbean. This year she is going to be modeling for her own brand.